My Expertise
My expertise is in designing social experiences with neurodivergent people. I use UX (user experience) and interaction design methods to co-create novel opportunities for engagement with groups that are often marginalised or otherwise not given a voice in the development of interactive products and services. I am currently working on haptic and audio technologies for use by a range of neurodiverse people and researching the effectiveness of 'quiet rooms' by autistic children and their families at large sporting events.
Keywords
Fields of Research (FoR)
Design, Interaction and experience design, Affective computing, Social roboticsSEO tags
Biography
I am a Lecturer at UNSW Arts, Design and Architecture (ADA) using interactive technologies and human-centred design approaches to work with neurodiverse populations. Based in the School of Art & Design, I bring an interaction design and UX perspective to inclusive practices, co-design and assistive technology. My teaching and research examines creative implementations of embodied and sensory interaction and the value of accessible technology...view more
I am a Lecturer at UNSW Arts, Design and Architecture (ADA) using interactive technologies and human-centred design approaches to work with neurodiverse populations. Based in the School of Art & Design, I bring an interaction design and UX perspective to inclusive practices, co-design and assistive technology. My teaching and research examines creative implementations of embodied and sensory interaction and the value of accessible technology in eliciting social engagement between people. I’m also the Director of Sector Engagement (Health) at ADA, a role in which I aim to support and promote the human-centred approaches to health and wellbeing research found across our diverse faculty.
I lead the assistive technology research focus of the Creative Robotics Lab, where I have developed responsive sensory spaces for facilitating conversation between autistic children and their parents. I have also investigated methods of using social robots in therapeutic and educational contexts. Community-led and co-design is central to my teaching and research, and I regularly engage with external partners and institutions for both activities. Through my research, I led the inaugural Autism MeetUp event (UNSW Art & Design) and established the Neurodiversity + Embodiment group for researchers collaborating in interdisciplinary approaches to advocating for neurodiverse communities.
My Qualifications
- PhD Art, Design and Media (UNSW Sydney, Australia)
- B Digital Media, Hons First Class (UNSW Sydney, Australia)
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Currently supervising
- Wei Wang, Will visual scaffolding with elaborated letterforms make a difference for dyslexic readers? An experimental research on font and reading difficulty, PhD